


Life in Frankfurt

by TheEigthPillarGeneral



Category: DRAMAtical Murder (Visual Novel), DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Culture Shock, Germany, Koujaku-centric, Life in a New Country, M/M, Multi, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-18
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-15 19:26:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11237616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEigthPillarGeneral/pseuds/TheEigthPillarGeneral
Summary: A series of (mostly) Koujaku-centric one-shots that deal with his new relationship with both Aoba and Noiz as he goes through the challenges of living in Frankfurt and adapting to a new life. Set after "Realisation".





	1. Jetlag

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the one-shot collection I'm starting! The first one is short, but I just wanted to get a feel for the stories right now. Let me know how I did :D Enjoy!
> 
> Note: Another minor change. Noiz and Aoba now live together in a nice apartment instead of a mansion.
> 
> Disclaimer: DMMD belongs to Nitro+Chiral, not me.

“To Koujaku-san!” Kou cheered as everyone raised their glasses in a toast.

“To Koujaku-san!” everyone cheered.

Two months had passed since Aoba and Noiz left for Frankfurt. Since they moved back, Koujaku had been planning on moving out of Midorijima, just as he promised them. Koujaku had first shipped several important items, such as his letters and instruments, straight to Aoba and Noiz’s address in Frankfurt (which Aoba had been kind enough to give him). Once the shipping was taken care of, Koujaku had sold his apartment to none other than Daisuke and Priya, who needed a place to stay after coming home from their honeymoon. They were both so grateful to him and were incredibly saddened when they heard about him moving. However, they were happy for him and gave him their blessing.

As for Benishigure, Koujaku had appointed Hagima as the new leader, spending the past few weeks training him for the responsibilities he’d have to take care of. Hagima had been honoured to be chosen as the new leader and promised that he’d be just as great as Koujaku had been.

Right now, Benishigure was having a farewell party for Koujaku in the hopes of wishing him luck on his new life before his evening flight to Frankfurt. Since he was going straight to the airport afterwards, Koujaku was dressed in some comfortable jeans, a black turtleneck, and a longline cardigan. His kimono was packed away in his suitcase. It was going to be his first time flying abroad, and he was advised to dress comfortably for long flights.

As Koujaku took a small sip of melon juice, Mizuki came over and sat down next to him. “You know, Koujaku,” Mizuki started. “Your fans are gonna be devastated. What are they gonna do when they see that their precious Koujaku-san has gone to Germany?” His voice was teasing.

Koujaku rolled his eyes. “They just want to make sure that I’m being treated well by Aoba and Noiz,” he told him. 

“Oi, Koujaku-san!” Kou called out to him. “Why don’t you drink some sake?”

“Can’t. I have a long flight ahead of me,” Koujaku said. “I don’t want to have a hangover on the plane or anything like that.”

“Besides, drinking before a flight is bad for you!” Beni added. “Not only can it dehydrate you in the plane, but you may not even be let on if you’re drunk!”

Koujaku nodded. “I’m just sticking to melon juice right now,” he said.

“Speaking of flying, you have to invite us to Frankfurt at some point,” Mizuki was saying. “Not immediately, but at some point, you should.”

Koujaku chuckled. “I’ll see once I get over the jetlag, alright?”

Right then, Beni flew up onto Koujaku’s shoulder. “Your ride to the airport is coming in about five minutes, don’t forget,” he reminded. “Check-in is at five.”

“Got it.” With that, Koujaku stood up. “Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me today. I’ve had a great few years with every single one of you, so it’ll be a bit hard for me to adjust not being the leader anymore. However, I hope I can see you guys again. Take good care!”

The rest of Benishigure started calling encouragements out to him. “Good luck, Koujaku-san!” Kou called.

“Have a safe flight, Koujaku!” Mizuki said. 

“Tell us how Germany is!” Hagima called.

After receiving many wishes for a safe flight, Koujaku and Beni left the building with a suitcase and backpack in tow, where a van was waiting for them outside, ready to take them to the airport. Once Koujaku climbed in, the car drove off in the direction of Midorijima International Airport.

Upon reaching the airport, Koujaku went through the usual process of checking in his suitcase and going through security before waiting in the terminal. By now, the sun was beginning to set over Midorijima. 

“Oi, Koujaku,” Beni said as the staff member at the counter made the pre-boarding announcement. “You nervous?”

Koujaku nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

While it wasn’t his first time in an airplane, it was his first time going on an international flight. Hell, it was his first time going out of Japan, so to say he was nervous was an understatement. Sure, Koujaku was happy to be going to live with Aoba and Noiz, but he was scared. What was Germany like? Were the people friendly? What kind of job was he going to get?

When it was time to board, Koujaku presented his passport and boarding pass to the woman at the counter before getting to his seat. He was lucky to book a seat near the emergency exit, otherwise his legs would’ve been quite cramped. Once he’d placed his backpack in the overhead bin, he sat down and fastened his seatbelt before removing Beni from his shoulder.

“I’m gonna power you down now,” Koujaku told him. “I’ll see you in Frankfurt.”

“Good night, Koujaku!” Beni said. And with that, Koujaku rubbed his thumb over Beni’s head, powering him down. Tucking him away in the pocket of his cardigan, Koujaku opened up the in-flight blanket and pillow, making himself comfortable for a long flight ahead of him. 

 

* * *

 

By the time the plane began to descend into Frankfurt Airport, it was late afternoon. As the plane landed on the runway, Koujaku felt a thrill of excitement; he could not wait to see Aoba and Noiz again. Aoba had told him to look out for him, since he was going to come to the airport to pick him up.

Going through customs and immigration felt like torture to Koujaku and his extremely tired brain. His eyes felt heavy and he just couldn’t wait to get some sleep. But he finally, finally made it through immigration before collecting his luggage. Once he had his suitcase with him, Koujaku made his way to the arrivals hall, looking for a familiar blue-haired figure.

Sure enough, not only did Koujaku see Aoba’s familiar blue hair, but he also saw Noiz waiting along with him. Both were in business suits, making it clear that they’d just come from work to pick him up. Despite his exhaustion, Koujaku smiled at them as he made his way to them.

“Aoba, Noiz,” he said, getting their attention.

Aoba glanced up and upon seeing Koujaku, he smiled excitedly. “Koujaku!” Aoba set Ren down and ran over to his friend, throwing his arms around him in a hug.

Koujaku couldn’t help but laugh as he hugged him back, feeling glad to finally see him again. Right then, Noiz also approached him.

“It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?” he asked. A teasing smirk crossed his face. “You look like shit, you know?”

“I  _ feel  _ like shit,” Koujaku agreed, pulling away from the hug. “Twelve hours in a plane is way too long.” He moved to hug Noiz, who returned the hug as well.

“But you’re finally here,” Aoba told him, still smiling. “Welcome to Frankfurt. You’re gonna love it here, Koujaku.”

Noiz pulled away from the hug. “My car’s outside,” he said. “Let’s go home.”


	2. Silence

Koujaku followed Aoba and Noiz to the parking lot, where they approached a black BMW. As Aoba climbed into the back seat, Noiz helped Koujaku load his suitcase into the trunk before going to the driver’s seat.

Once Koujaku sat down in the passenger seat, he pulled Beni from his pocket, powering him up. “Yo, Beni,” he greeted. “We’re in Germany now.”

Beni opened his eyes, looking around him. “Finally, we’re here!” He hopped into the middle of the two front seats. “Yo! Aoba, Ren! Long time no see!”

“Hey, Beni,” Aoba greeted.

“It has been a while,” Ren agreed.

Noiz started the car and pulled out of the parking lot before driving away from Frankfurt Airport and towards the city. The sun was slowly beginning to set, and Koujaku turned his head to look out of the window and take in the view of Frankfurt.

The city was beautiful and completely different from Midorijima. Tall, sleek buildings towered over the streets, which had a distinctly European feel to them. The mix of modern and traditional buildings, which Koujaku had seen in Midorijima, was different, in that it was more wealthy and high-tech. Frankfurt was huge, and Koujaku couldn’t help but feel a little nervous about exploring such a vast city.

“Enjoying the view?” Aoba asked teasingly.

“It’s beautiful,” Koujaku said, his voice sincere. “Noiz, I’ll be honest. Frankfurt is one hell of a city.”

Noiz smirked. “You’ve barely seen anything, old man,” he teased. “Wait ‘til we go sightseeing. There’s a lot to do here.”

“He’s right, Koujaku,” Beni chimed in. “Frankfurt is home to a lot of interesting places. There’s the Städel art museum, the Main Tower, the Palmengarten, the Römer-”

“Oi, oi,” Koujaku cut him off, laughing slightly. “I need to settle down, first of all. Once I get settled, I’ll check out those places.”

The drive through the city was oddly very soothing, and Koujaku felt his eyelids growing heavy. He was definitely tired, and he just wanted to go to sleep. However, Beni wouldn’t let him.

“Oi, Koujaku!” Beni shouted, snapping Koujaku back into reality. “Don’t fall asleep! You need to adjust to the time zone difference!”

“Beni’s right,” Aoba agreed. “I know it’s hard, but try and stay awake. We’re almost home.”

“How much longer?” Koujaku asked. 

“We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes,” Noiz said. “Our apartment’s in the Westend district. It’s got a really nice view of the city.”

“That so?” Koujaku asked.

The drive continued in silence. Sure enough, in fifteen minutes, the car arrived at a fairly upscale-looking apartment building. The opulence was subdued, but the impression of it being a wealthy residence was definitely there. Once Noiz parked the car in the apartment parking lot, Koujaku got out and took his suitcase from the back before following Aoba and Noiz to their apartment.

Their apartment was located on the sixth floor of the building. It was sleek, classy, and pretty modern. But what caught Koujaku’s eye was the impressive view of the city from the main room. Noiz was right. The view was pretty amazing. 

“Well, what do you think?” Aoba asked.

Koujaku nodded. “Looks nice,” he said. “Where’s your bedroom?”

“Just down the hall, on your left,” Noiz told him. “We also have a connecting bathroom, in case you feel like freshening up.”

“Gladly.” With that, Koujaku went to the bathroom to have a long and hot shower.

 

* * *

It was three-fifty in the morning. Koujaku sat on the couch only wearing black sleep pants, staring out at the city. Seemed like even early in the morning, Frankfurt was still quite busy. 

Koujaku had a hard time sleeping. His body was still trying to adjust to the time zone difference, so his sleep schedule was pretty messed up. But even more was the fact that the apartment was just too quiet.

Back in Midorijima, Koujaku was used to hearing the sounds of the city, hearing people passing by and talking amongst each other along with the sounds of car engines running. It had been such an everyday occurrence in Midorijima that Koujaku almost always fell asleep immediately. Besides, there was something oddly comforting about it. 

But in Frankfurt, everything was too quiet. Koujaku could barely hear the sounds of traffic in the city from behind the windows, and it bothered him. He’d gotten so uncomfortable with the silence that he’d tried listening to some music and falling asleep to no avail. Koujaku couldn’t help but envy Aoba and Noiz for being able to sleep in this kind of silence.

Deciding that there was no use in trying to go back to sleep, Koujaku went into the kitchen to see if there was any tea. Opening up the first cupboard, he was pleased to see tea boxes labelled ‘Teekanne’. He took a box labelled ‘Japanischer Grüntee’, opening it up and taking a sniff, immediately recognizing the aroma to be Sencha. Taking a mug, Koujaku grabbed the kettle from atop the stove and poured some water before letting it boil.

As he poured the tea, Koujaku began thinking to himself. What was he going to do here? Where would he be able to find a job? In fact, how was he going to learn German? He didn’t want to just sit around at home while Noiz and Aoba went off to work. Koujaku knew that if he wanted to get a job here, he needed to know at least some German.

He was just about to sit down at the table when he noticed a stack of books by the TV. But these weren’t just any books, they were German-language learning books. Koujaku guessed that Aoba used them when he was new here, so he decided to use the books as well. With this in mind, Koujaku picked up the books and brought them to the table along with a spare notebook and pencil. 

He decided to start off with the alphabet, and he opened up the first book, turning to the page on the German alphabet before copying each letter in the notebook and silently sounding them out. But once Koujaku got through the basic alphabet, he realized that there was a lot more letters with different symbols on them, which boggled his mind.

There was an ‘umlaut’, which were the two dots above vowels, and then there was the ‘eszett’: a letter that looked almost like a capital ‘B’, but not quite. Just reading the various letters and different rules of the language was enough to intimidate him.

In terms of languages besides Japanese, Koujaku only knew English. He’d been educated in English by the instructors his father had hired, since they would apparently be trying to make deals with Americans visiting mainland Japan or something like that. However, he hadn’t really used his English skills that much, and even if it was still quite fluent, Koujaku didn’t know if it could help him get around Frankfurt, especially if he was looking for a job.

Koujaku felt his eyelids growing heavy again. Maybe he should just focus on getting some sleep before trying to learn another language. With that in mind, he got up and went back to the bedroom.

 

* * *

“Did you sleep well last night?” Aoba asked as Koujaku drank some tea.

Noiz had left for work early, and Aoba had decided not to go to work so he could help Koujaku adjust to his new life.

Koujaku shook his head. “It’s too quiet here,” he said. “I’m so used to hearing the city in Midorijima that it feels really strange to have total silence.”

Aoba smiled slightly. “Don’t worry, I went through the same thing for the first few nights,” he said sympathetically.

“I’m also wondering what I’m going to do in terms of work,” Koujaku said. “I need to learn some German before getting a job.”

At this, Aoba couldn’t help but smile. “Noiz will help you somehow,” he reassured. “For now, you need to focus on adjusting to the time difference.” His eyes glinted excitedly. “This weekend, Noiz and I are going to show you around Frankfurt. That way, you can get used to living here and learn more about this place.”

Seeing the excitement in Aoba’s eyes never failed to make Koujaku smile. And if Aoba was telling him that he should just focus on adjusting to the time difference here, then Koujaku would do so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really relate to Koujaku and him finding Frankfurt too quiet, to be honest. Whenever I come back from family trips to India, I get so used to hearing the bustle of the city that when I come back to Canada, it feels too quiet at home.
> 
> Let me know how I did :) Have a good one!
> 
> Disclaimer: DMMD belongs to Nitro+Chiral, not me.


End file.
